Our dairy sheep graze our hilly pastures year round. Our lambs are born in March and we let the lambs have the benefit of the first month of their mothers’ milk.
From April through September we milk our ewes twice a day, and I make their rich, delicious, raw milk into a Basque-style cheese that is aged for 60 days. I use a variety of cultures, and traditional animal rennet in the cheese. 2009 was our first year of production and I made only 600 pounds of cheese, which went on sale in August and was sold out by mid-November. In 2010 I plan to make around 3000 pounds of cheese. The cheese will be available from early July through December.
Pouring the sheep milk
The curd
Hooping the cheese
Cheese
The larger of our two cheeses is called Baserri, which means farmhouse in Basque. This cheese is a 4- to 5-pound tomme. The green Basque countryside in France and Spain is dotted with ancient tile-roofed baserris where Basque farmers still make their living in traditional ways, often milking their sheep by hand and making small batches of cheese that they sell locally. Our Baserri is made in that spirit, in small batches, by hand. It is a West Marin interpretation of the Basque cheeses you can buy from farmhouses in the Basque country.
Txiki, which means “little” in Basque, is a smaller version of Baserri, a 2-pound tommette-sized cheese made from the same recipe as Baserri. The shape produces a different relationship of paste to rind, and a slightly saltier flavor.
You can buy Baserri and Txiki at Cowgirl Creamery, at Oliver’s Market in Santa Rosa, Raymond & Co. in Glen Ellen, the Pasta Shop in Berkeley and Oakland, the Cheese Board in Berkely and Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. You will also find it on the menu at Nick’s Cove Restaurant in Marshall, Osteria Stellina in Point Reyes Station, The Farm House in Olema, Quince in San Francisco, Marche in Menlo Park, and Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur.